Praying for RefugeesSýnishorn

Out of the Garden - Adam and Eve

What is a refugee?

The story of the Bible begins with a family forced to leave the only place they’ve ever known. It’s the story of Adam and Eve, and how they suddenly became exiles on earth.

Of course, they carry a large part of the responsibility for what happened, and it’s because of their own actions that they had to leave the Garden of Eden. We don’t want to push the example too far; there was no war or famine in the Garden that pushed them to seek refuge elsewhere.

Still, this departure from paradise to a strange and hostile world is the first in a long series of displacements that have marked the history of humanity. Eden was their home, and Adam and Eve were meant to live in the comfort and security God had given them, where they were happy and well provided for. If the Fall had not upheaved the life they had in the Garden, they could have lived in peace. Instead, they became exiles, a family seeking refuge away from their home. In this sense, Adam and Eve were the first to experience this kind of rupture.

Perhaps we tend to overlook the suffering the first man and woman went through.

But today, millions of people are displaced from their homes. Because of war, persecution, or natural disaster, they are forced to leave what they know behind and seek refuge elsewhere. Against their will, they say goodbye to what was supposed to be the safety and security of their homes and embark into the unknown. They are internally displaced people, asylum seekers and refugees. Perhaps they understand better than most the hardships that Adam and Eve went through, and that they, as the first to walk this path, represent us all.

After all, we are all of us refugees, strangers and exiles on earth, seeking the paradise we lost. Thankfully, the story doesn’t end there. Although God made Adam and Eve leave the Garden, His love for them never stopped. When He provided clothes for them, He showed that He understood their vulnerable state. Though they were no longer in the Garden, God continued to care for them. Even though humankind had taken a different path than the one God wanted for them, He never abandoned those He loved.

So today, as so many millions face the same rupture that the first man and woman faced, let us remember that a refugee, a displaced person, is one who has suffered, and has been driven from their home. But even more, let us remember that a refugee is one who is loved and cared for by a God who will never abandon them.